So, today is going to be busy at work and I wanted some bold kick ass nails to go with it. My favorite color is red and in keeping with trying to use a lot of my untried polishes, here is what I came up with:

I can’t lie, I’m pretty pleased with these bad boys. Here’s what I used for this mani:

There are a lot of untrieds here: this is my first mani with the Barry Ms and my reformulated Black. This is the version that will likely hit the market next month! I have used this Bunny Nails plate one before, but every time I use her plates it is like the first time all over again. If you have checked her plates out yet, you really should! I have a few of the HD and BuNa plates and all have been outstanding. The images are large, which is great for my lumberjack nails. Plus, the are etched deeply, making images that would typically be more difficult easy to use.

Okay, enough Bunny Nails love fest (for now…). I started with a coat of Glitter Off on my ring finger. I tend to use Glitter Off with all textured and glitter polishes. I don’t like discovering the hard way that a polish is tough to remove. Glitter Off saves me gobs of time and effort in the long run.

Once the Glitter Off was dry, I used Essie Protein Base on each nail. My ring finger then got two coats of Majesty and the rest got two coats of Blood Orange. Both of these could easily be one coaters if you pay attention. I am a two coat type of girl, and generally can’t help myself from adding the second coat even if I don’t really need it. Here’s how it looked:

Pretty all by itself, right? The Blood Orange nails are topped with China Glaze quick dry, but Majesty is not yet top coated here.

Once that was all dry, I added the stamp using M Polish and my BuNa B plate. then topped it all off with one coat of Seche Vite. Here’s the final product:

Today I bring you Packers inspired nails! I am participating in an NFL nails challenge through the playoffs and Super Bowl. My hometeam is waaaaay out of contention and is my husband’s, so I opted for the Green Bay Packers! Here’s what I came up with:

Green and gold cheese nails! This mani came together pretty easily. Here’s what I used:

I picked up Envious during Bear Pawlish‘s black friday sale. She has some killer holos, and this one did not disappoint:

It is a beautiful emerald green color . I wasn’t able to capture the holo so well, but trust me when I say it is there. This is two coats.

I had ordered a FUN plate to try (my first) during Llarowe‘s sale and it just happened to arrive the day I was planning to do these nails! And, it has an image that looked just like swiss cheese to me! It probably would have looked more swiss-y had I used white, but I wanted to stick with the green and gold colors for the Packers. So, I busted out one of my gold prototypes and added some gold cheese!

I really like these. I think they look a little ridiculous, but just perfect to root on the Packers today!

Happy Friday!! If you haven’t check out my IG yet, you should because I am currently hosting a contest! The grand prize is OPI’s new Hawaii collection. Definitely a prize worth winning! And, since I’m giving a brand new set of the collection away, I figured I would post some swatches of my own set! I picked mine up from 365nailart.com.

I was going to break this into two posts, but what the hell…let’s live dangerously! This is going to be pic heavy. Ready? Let’s go!

First up is Aloha From OPI:

This is two coats topped with Seche Vite. Is is a good orangey-red color that will be perfect for summer. It had a good formula (doesn’t OPI always??), and I had no issues getting good coverage in two coats.

Next up is Suzi Shops & Island Hops:

This is two generous coats topped with Seche Vite. It was a little streaky, but in my experience that isn’t uncommon for pastels. It evened out pretty well with the second coat and I adore the color. It was opaque in those two coats and will make the perfect backdrop for some fun spring manis!

But then I tried Pineapples Have Feelings Too! and the love fest came to a screeching halt:

Two coats again topped with Seche Vite. I really do not like this polish. The formula was just fine, but the color with the glitter is just weird for me. It is a yellowy-gold color. It was easy to apply and I had no problem getting good glitter coverage. If a color like this is your cup of tea, you won’t be disappointed by this polish. It is just not for me.

After shaking the pineapples out of my brain, I moved on to Go With the Lava Flow:

Two coats again topped with Seche Vite. It has a pretty, but subtle, gold shimmer. Here is a closer look:

No complaints on the formula. The jury is still out on the color, but I did like it better when I matted it:

For whatever reason, I just liked this better. Complete and total personal preference.

After playing around with Lava, I tried That’s Hula-rious:

This is two streaky coats topped with Seche Vite. I probably should have gone with a third thin coat. It was a bit difficult, but the color pay off was awesome. I just love this color. It is gorgeous for spring!

Next up was This Color’s Making Waves:

Two coats topped with Seche Vite. My fingers are positioned a bit oddly because I was trying to catch the shift. It is a subtle blue-green shift with microshimmer that was super tough for me to photograph. The formula was okay — pretty typical of polishes like this. You can see better when I matted it:

Just like Lava, I thought this one was prettier after I topped it with the matte top coat.

Here is Is Mai Tai Crooked?

Two coats topped with Seche. I don’t like orange polish, but I loved this one. It will be great for summer and fall!

Here is Hello Hawaii Ya?

Two coats topped with Seche Vite. I am a BIG fan of this one. Great formula and a beautiful dusty purple color. I can think of a million uses for this one. This one is a homerun in my book.

Here is My Gecko Does Tricks:

Two coats topped with Seche Vite. I was a little meh about this one. It is green with a pinky-gold shimmery shift thing going on. It was very subtle and did not pick up on the camera. As with some of the others, I preferred it matted:

I just prefer this one better. But definitely not my favorite in the collection. That’s okay…can’t love them all!

Next up is Lost My Bikini in Molokini:

Two coats topped with Seche Vite. This was another great formula and beautiful purple creme. Another winner in the collection.

Here is Do You Take Lei Away?

This perfect neutral is two coats topped with Seche Vite. The formula was great. The color is perfect for a professional mani or as the base for nail art. I’m a big fan of this one.

Last, but not least is Just Lanai-ing Around:

Two coats topped with Seche Vite. Another easy formula. The color is good. I usually don’t care for mauvey colors, but this one has a hint of purple to it that sets it apart.

So, thanks for reading this massive post!! Which ones did you like the best?

Howdy! Today I have a semi-successful watermarble to share! Let me start out by saying that I am absolutely terrible at watermarbles. Just awful. But, I was inspired by Pish.Posh.Polish’s recent blog tutorial to give it another whirl. And, I picked colors based on her recent black and white mani. Hers was so super classy. Mine came out a bit more…well…klassie:

Yeah….I got a little carried away. But that’s okay…I call this a win because I got somthing resembling a watermarble to work!!

I used Zoya Willa, Barielle Going to the Chapel, and vinyls by TwinkledT.

I started with two coats of Going to the Chapel:

As far as white polishes go, this is a pretty good one.

I topped my index and pinky with seche to help them dry faster so they would be ready for the vinyls whenever I got around to them. Then, I started in on the watermarble.

I added the polish to the water and let it spread. Then I used a toothpick to create the design. Here’s what it looked like:

I had the spot I wanted to use all picked out. Then my dogs bumped into my table, and I was left with this:

Not so great. So, I started over. No biggie. Here’s what it looked like after my first finger:

A total mess. But under that mess is liquid latex (which is the purple on my ring finger). Once I was done dipping, I peeled the latex off and was only left with a little to clean up. Here’s what my two middle fingers looked like after they were both dipped and cleaned:

Not too terribly shabby. I mean, they don’t look as good as Pish’s, but it is a HUGE improvement over anything I’ve ever been able to pull off before!

Now, if I was classy like Pish, I would have added some black dots to my index and pinky and then put the polish the hell down. But no. I love her chevrons so much I just had to do some.

I pulled out my TwinkledT vinyls. You can check out what she offers here. I am a really big fan of her vinyls. They fit my super curvy nails better than traditional vinyls. Plus, she has some awesome designs.

For this mani, I used the small chevrons. I placed them, painted Willa over them, then quickly removed them. End result: